My tornado machine build!

[Things]

Yeah, the rotation of the blower pipes is very important, so I left them twistable to fine tune
it. And yeah, when my LEDs arrive, the whole thing will be computer controlled through a microconttoller, including PWM on all 4 of the rotation blowers.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I want to make a big flameproof one of these and replace the fog with propane. That would be biblical
I went to a bar a while ago that had much smaller fire tornadoes in glass pipes like pillars at the entrance but these were quite narrow (~8" maybe) and obviously didn't have side blowers, just the top fan it seemed.

 

[Swordofsalvation]

This is amazing.....so does the vortex actually have any lifting power? Can it low over the model house you have in the picture?

 

[jeffd]

Wow that is an awesome project! I may have to steal your idea and build a mini version one day...

+rep'd for awesomeness

 

[Things]

This is amazing.....so does the vortex actually have any lifting power? Can it low over the model house you have in the picture?

It's lifting power is pretty much limited to moving pieces of paper around the base, but it doesn't actually suck anything up but the fog.

Thanks for the comments

 

[sightfx]

Nice Work! I will make one for my next project.


Cheers,

Ryan

 

[Things]

Almost done with the control interface!

DX had a shipping error, my LED's may be a bit longer yet

If my connection supports it, I may eventually create a web interface and setup a webcam stream, meaning anyone can go along and fiddle with the machine over the internet

 

[Nefarious]

If my connection supports it, I may eventually create a web interface and setup a webcam stream, meaning anyone can go along and fiddle with the machine over the internet

Now that would be awesome!!!

 

[vitalyx]

Impressive DIY work!

 

[Things]

Added a pressure reading to the interface!

At the moment it's just reading from a potentiometer, I need to wait for my bank account to recover so I can purchase a pressure sensor. (Just bought 15" touchscreen monitor )

This pressure reading will allow me to set categories more specifically, so if the tornado dies, the category goes down with it.

Even thinking about adding an option so you can SET the pressure!

More to come

 

[Nefarious]

Thanks for getting me interested in yet another expensive project! lol

 

[Things]

It can be done quite cheaply. This whole project is probably $<300AUD.

Though, I have done it in a way that it is ready to be put in a public place and played around with, if you just want it for your home you can do things a bit cheaper.

 

[HIMNL9]

Heheheh ..... What about a warning flash box for

"WARNING - Tornado is coming out from the machine and starting to lift the house, please stop it"

j/k

 

[wolfhunter9154]

What microcontroller are you using? I was thinking of an arduino for mine

 

[Things]

Yep, an Arduino Duemilanove

 

[Prototype]

This is coming along nicely man. Gotta ask, what's that in the corner of your avatar, bottom right hand side.